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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/29485728">I'm Home</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/YumeNouveau/pseuds/YumeNouveau'>YumeNouveau</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe, Anal Sex, Blow Jobs, Dreams, Drinking, Haunted Houses, Japanese Mythology &amp; Folklore, M/M, RS Fireside Tales, Shower Sex, Waiter Sirius, bar/pub, ghost - Freeform, incubus, psychologist remus</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-02-26</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-02-26</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-15 23:27:53</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Explicit</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>13,701</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/29485728</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/YumeNouveau/pseuds/YumeNouveau</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Doctor Remus Lupin has always been pragmatic, a realist in every sense of the word, yet after a strange encounter 5 years ago he's sought out psychics of every sort despite his own self-doubt.  His friends have always thought he dreamt up the man with silver eyes who appeared in his bedroom, seduced him, then left, but now strange things are beginning to happen in his home which might just prove him correct even if he doesn't wish it</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Sirius Black/Remus Lupin</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>16</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>100</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>RS Fireside Tales Vol.3</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>I'm Home</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>I am so thankful for this amazing fest, it's really given me a reason to write again and I can't thank Muse and Gloom enough for all their hard work and patience (as I'm always late with deadlines).<br/>Huge thank you to my beta E for cheering me on and helping with my last minute revisions, you're just the best sister wife ever!</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  
</p><p>“I hear someone’s looking for you.”</p><p>Sirius turned, his gaze flitting from the window to his best friend in the driver’s seat wearing that infuriating smirk that made him both want to punch and hug him until his ribs cracked ever so slightly.</p><p>“Oh?” Sirius glanced back out the window, untroubled, watching a flock of some sort of damn bird he couldn’t be troubled to identify as it flew overhead.</p><p>“Did a little birdy tell you that?” he grinned, knowing James could see him in the reflection.</p><p>James’ laugh filled the car even over the radio, drowning out the god forsaken 90s mixtape he loved so much. “Yeah, a bird indeed.”</p><p>Snorting and shaking his head, Sirius leaned against the cool glass, feeling the rumble of the car make its way into his bones. “It doesn’t matter.”</p><p>“It might.”</p><p>“It might not.”</p><p>“You don’t even want to know who?”</p><p>‘Not in the slightest,” Sirius said, rolling down the window. The air smelled young and promising, like freshly sown crops, water droplets not yet absorbed, and he was suddenly thirsty.</p><p>“There’s a motel ahead,” Sirius said after a moment.</p><p>“It’s barely dusk,” James replied. “We can make it farther if we…”</p><p>“I’m thirsty.”</p><p>James sighed. He knew better to argue and he could feel a mood settling over the passenger seat. So he pulled off at the next exit, the neon red of the “No Vacancy” sign competing with the orange glow as the sun sank beneath the fields.</p><p>Both men opened their respective doors, Sirius stepping forth with a spring to his step. “See you in the morning.”</p><p>* * *</p><p>“You know she’s just another fraud, right?” Lily whispered over her shoulder as they stepped through the tacky rattle of beaded curtains into the pungent incense-wrapped room “beyond the veil.” Or so they’d been promised by the almost identical Miss Cleo clone who had gladly dropped her quite impeccable knitting to escort them into the back room of the small psychic boutique Remus practically pushed them into.</p><p>“It’s my money,” Remus countered quietly, giving her a look, “and we’re early anyway, Marlene and Dorcas won’t meet us at the bar for at least twenty.”</p><p>“Twenty minutes I could be drinking,” Lily grumbled but seemingly relented as she slumped into a tacky, faux-antique chair.</p><p>“Would you like a drink dear?” the psychic asked, gesturing to a row of tea cups stacked by an old CD player exuding something that was surely meant to give off an impression of peace and exoticism, “I can read tea leaves…”</p><p>“That’s not necessary,” Lily said before remembering her manners with a fake smile. “But thank you.”</p><p>The woman shrugged, her scarves shifting as she settled into a grand replica of rocco opulence, and Remus wondered if she actually preferred the stereotypical look or simply donned it to appease her clients.</p><p>“So then, Mister…”</p><p>“You can call me John,” Remus said, knowing fully well that often “psychics” had others listening in who could look up information if a full name was given. He’d been to enough frauds to ensure he wasn’t played, even if he gave his money freely in the fervent search for something real.</p><p>“John then,” she said in a melodic yet unplaceable accent, “you said you’re looking for someone?”</p><p>“I am,”</p><p>“And am I the first psychic you’ve sought out?”</p><p>“Hardly,” Lily said, then looked a bit ashamed.</p><p>“I’ve been to many without much luck I’m afraid,” Remus continued.</p><p>“Hmm,” the woman said, holding out a hand above a round central table covered in a filagree of stars and celestial bodies. Remus placed his in hers, palm up, and watched her face with interest. So much could be discerned from micro expressions, the furrow of the brow, the tightening of the mouth, a fake gasp, an exaggerated bite to the lip. The woman concentrated a full half minute before her questions began.</p><p>“You’re looking for a relative who has passed on?” Remus turned to Lily before she could snort. A bad start then.</p><p>“No.”</p><p>“A lost lover?” She tried again. Remus shook his head.</p><p>“Ah, a deceased pet?” She sounded a bit frantic now. Remus took back his hand slowly and let out a breath. Another fraud, another dead end.</p><p>“No, I’m sorry. Thank you for trying though.”</p><p>“I can keep…” the woman started but Lily was already up and out of her seat, heading out the door.</p><p>“Remus come on,” she shouted over her shoulder before it closed behind her.</p><p>With an apologetic shrug, Remus stood before looking the woman in the eye. It wasn’t her fault she couldn’t find what he was looking for. Most clients probably strolled in looking for simple closure, a little white lie, to know a loved one was at peace, a sign to move on. Yet that wasn’t what he sought.</p><p>“I’ll still pay in full, for your time,” Remus said, grabbing a twenty from his wallet.</p><p>Before he could set it on the table though, an icy hand gripped his wrist in a vice-like grip. The room felt suddenly still, quiet, Hadn’t there been music playing? Hadn’t the temperature been fifteen degrees warmer? Remus looked up to meet eyes, milky like death, inches from his own, as the psychic had lunged across the table in one silent motion. He gasped, watching his breath puff like smoke against her cheek, realizing her own lack of breath, unblinking eyes, lax lips gone blue. He pulled at his wrist but she did not budge, did not offer an inch, as if her hand were a marble statue carved centuries before in this very spot, the perfect shape to capture his own for eternity.</p><p>If this was a trick, Remus could not decipher how she’d done it, and his curiosity was quickly turning to dred as the moments clicked by. He pulled again, but with no luck. His mind raced, eyes scanning the room, the now silent CD player by the doorway, the beaded curtain which had suddenly stopped its clinking, the corners which formed dark shadows that looked so much deeper than a small room like this could ever hold. Something more, something strange was happening that he had never encountered before.</p><p>Suddenly she spoke, her voice a rasp, as if a tongue long dead lifted itself, vocal cords pulling at a disused voice box. Yet her lips did not move. Her mouth hung open like a silent scream as she simply said, “Follow the fox.”</p><p>“What?” Remus blinked, pulled back, and suddenly the psychic’s grip had disappeared, warmth had returned to the room, whatever new age plinky-plunky music was back, and she was grabbing the bill from his shaking hand.</p><p>“I said thank you.” The psychic looked at him quizzically. “Are...are you alright dear? Do you need to sit down?”</p><p>But remaining in that room was the last thing Remus wanted. “No, sorry, just...stood up too quickly.”</p><p>She nodded and he watched her move, lifelike, her voice the same lyrical lith it had been earlier. Nothing was different, and yet everything was. He only wished he could explain what happened.</p><p>“One last thing,” Remus asked on a wim, his hand on the doorknob. “If I were to say, ‘Follow the fox,’ what would that mean to you?”</p><p>“Oh,” she thought for a moment. “I haven’t the foggiest,” she said with a rather hearty laugh. “Is that some sort of slang?”</p><p>“No, sorry, just...it’s nothing,” Remus said, waving behind him. “Have a lovely night.”</p><p>He didn’t say anything about it to Lily as they walked the four blocks to their favorite bar, instead let her tell him off for wasting his money on yet another dead end before she started in on a work story that had him laughing, mood lifted by the time they reached the bar. It took a moment before the darkened sign and interior registered and they let out a simultaneous groan. Remus made for the front door before shouting back, “Looks like a waterpipe leaked, they’re closed for repairs.”</p><p>“Damn it,” Lily said, just as two figures holding hands emerged from around the corner.</p><p>“Uh oh.” He heard Marlene’s voice before he could make out either of their features, making his way back up toward the group.</p><p>“We could try another bar?” Dorcas said, the more hopeful of the bunch. Of course they all knew they’d be doing so, yet they needed a moment more to complain about it. All Remus wanted was his favorite booth, a drink made just the way he liked it, that comforting familiarity of routine he craved. But mostly he just wanted some alcohol right now.</p><p>“So we walk?” Remus said, more a statement than a question. They paired off on the narrow sidewalk, Dorcas and Marlene hand in hand talking the lead, Lily bundling herself against Remus' side behind, ever cold even in the early Autumn when the last bit of sun still warmed the pavement below.</p><p>“This one looks...nice?” Marlene asked as they neared the first bar after two blocks. Dorcas shoved her lightly and laughed. “You a biker chick now?”</p><p>Indeed, the entire parking lot of the Hog’s Head seemed to be filled with motorcycles, not their usual preference of fellow clientele.</p><p>“Tempting, but let’s keep walking,” Remus laughed.</p><p>After another two blocks they had passed both a club with a line that wrapped through the streets like a drunken caterpillar and another so-called bar that was eerily empty before coming upon a quaint little establishment with a neon sign, its lights running in the shape of pawprints.</p><p>“Fox Trail,” Lily said, shrugging. “Don’t remember this one.”</p><p>Neither did Remus, even as the haunting words of the psychic still echoed in his ears.</p><p>“Let’s try it,” Remus encouraged, though no one needed much prodding to sit and finally have a drink or three. They all ducked inside, a blast of heat greeting them as warm incandescent bulbs cast just enough light so patrons didn’t trip over their own feet, at least while sober. The place wasn’t hopping by far, though there were enough customers filing the booths to prove that the peanuts weren’t poisoned. The four took a seat at the bar, empty save for a couple at the far end who were being quite forward for a public venue. Remus looked away and pretended it was out of modesty rather than jealousy.</p><p>The bartender sauntered over after a moment, drying a glass with a rag and beaming a strangely genuine smile at them.</p><p>“Good evening all,” he said a bit dramatically, his long dark hair falling into his face and covering his round glasses before he pushed it back behind his ears. “What’ll it be for you beautiful people on this crisp autumn night? We’ve got wine, liquor, cocktails, and I know every dad joke about drinking that’s ever been invented.”</p><p>“Wine-liqu-tail-joke,” came out in such a rush, the four burst out laughing.</p><p>“Red, white or…”</p><p>“Red is fine,” Marlene said as the bartender grabbed a bottle to which she nodded.</p><p>He began to fill the glass and stopped before looking up at them all. “You know, alcohol jokes are in POUR taste.”</p><p>They all groaned save Dorcas who let out an adorable snort.</p><p>“I’m serving you next,” the bartender said. After crafting a Hurricane, he moved onto Lily. “And for you?”</p><p>“What beer do you have on tap?”</p><p>The bartender held his heart as if shot. “Beer? No no, you don’t really want beer.”</p><p>“I don’t?” Lily said, smiling puzzledly at him.</p><p>“Of course not, no one actually likes beer.”</p><p>“What?” Remus and the others were genuinely laughing now.</p><p>“It’s all just a ruse,” the man said, nodding like he was in on some conspiracy about Big Beer. “It’s a foul liquid, people just drink it to look cool. Have you noticed, they don’t even actually drink it in commercials.”</p><p>Dorcas was nodding affirmingly.</p><p>“See she gets it.”</p><p>“A bartender telling us not to drink beer,” Remus laughed, looked over at Lily and took a puzzled moment to respond.</p><p>“I still want a beer.”</p><p>“But do you? When I--a very skilled part-time bartender--could be making you a fruity monstrosity, a-la this?”</p><p>He shook and mulled and poured something syrupy over ice to which Lily took a skeptical sip. Then smiled. “How’d you know I love passion fruit?”</p><p>“Lucky guess,” he said, clearly pleased with himself.</p><p>“And Midori too, damn I needed this after the insanity he pulled me into,” Lily said, elbowing Remus, which was quite unfair as he didn’t yet have a drink.</p><p>“Oh no.” “What now?” “Do tell!” Came simultaneously from Dorcas, Marlene and the bartender.</p><p>“Well,” Lily cleared her throat, taking a sip before turning to her audience, “Here I thought we were just going out drinking a bit early. But of course, Remus had other plans. And I see him eying this psychic boutique…” Marlene and Dorcas groaned but the bartender’s eyebrows shot up.</p><p>“Wait, didn’t you just have a seance in your house a week ago?” Dorcas asked.</p><p>“And the week before that we all went to see that medium who was traveling through town,” Marlene agreed.</p><p>“What can I say, I’m supportive of local business,” Remus shrugged and Lily rolled her eyes but gave him a playful smile.</p><p>“So of course we go in,” she continued, “And what a waste of money that was, she couldn't even guess why he was there.”</p><p>“Remember when the medium thought he was getting a reading from Remus’ dead, non existent brother Kevin?” Marlene laughed, complete with air quotes.</p><p>“And the psychic at the seance pretended to shake the table and the candles blew out,” Lily agreed. “It was all so corny.”</p><p>“So why was he there?” the bartender asked. All eyes turned to Remus, it was his story to tell after all. Now normally he wasn’t one to confide about this to strangers, but the bartender seemed a decent fellow and Remus was now stealing sips of Lily’s drink so it only seemed fair.</p><p>“Fine. So...I’m searching for someone...”</p><p>“Oh?”</p><p>“Or something,” Remus amended. “I’m not quite sure. I didn’t get a great look at him, honestly even I’m beginning to doubt he was real, but I swear, five years ago a man came into my bedroom…”</p><p>“And made passionate love to him,” Lily interrupted dramatically.</p><p>“Er…” Remus bit his lip sheepishly. “That’s not the point. But I just want to know who he was, this man who came and went as if by magic, with glowing silver eyes.”</p><p>“And I, as the best friend, get pulled into every psychic shop in and out of town,” Lily said, grabbing her drink back from Remus and clutching it out of his reach.</p><p>“Really?” the bartender said, “So you…” he paused a moment before his eyes shifted down the bar and back. “Okay, this may seem a tad odd, but I actually have a slight proclivity at reading palms.”</p><p>“Look,” Remus laughed, “That’s really alright. I’m not looking to hear about my lifeline and loveline, fascinating as I’m sure they are.”</p><p>“Just, humor me.”</p><p>Since really, it could do no harm, and the man wasn’t even asking for money, Remus reached out his hand and the bartender took it, studied it, before smiling. Remus felt an odd chill and bristled once and the man let go, nodding in satisfaction.</p><p>“Yes, it says quite a lot actually. I do think you will meet the man you seek soon.”</p><p>“Do you?” Remus said skeptically.</p><p>“Very soon.”</p><p>“Well he’s not here now, so how about getting me a drink?”</p><p>“Of course, one moment,” the bartender said before rushing over to the end of the bar where Remus saw the overly amorous couple had taken things a bit too far as one now sat straddled over the other’s lap. “Hey, not in here!” He whisper-yelled and the two broke apart. Remus frowned, incredibly annoyed both at having his drink delayed and at the lack of decorum in a public place.</p><p>“Sorry,” the bartender returned sheepishly. “My friend is supposed to be helping me with the bar, not helping himself to the clientele.” Remus turned and saw one man walk off while the other slumped in his seat before grinned cheekily his way, giving them a wave.</p><p>“Is this your place?” Lily asked.</p><p>“My parents. I’m more a...free spirit you could say. But they wanted a vacation so I said we’d help out. Apparently I only spoke for myself though, cause someone is not earning his room and board,” he finished loud enough for the other man to hear and flip him the bird.</p><p>“Looks like he was practically ready to room with that bloke, could’ve saved you the trouble,” Remus said.</p><p>“Eh, I’d miss him,” the bartender said, “Even if I spend half my life annoyed at him.”</p><p>“I’ll drink to that,” Lily said, and the bartender grabbed an empty glass to clink with him.</p><p>Remus shook his head and then put it on the counter dejectedly. “If only I was somewhere I could get a drink.”</p><p>* * *</p><p>Scratching, faint yet persistent, awoke Remus in the dead of night. At first he couldn’t tell where it came from, his thoughts fuzzy at the edges, sticky and attempting to pull him back into the pit of slumber. Then it came again, louder, and all sounds, smells, thoughts rushing back in that tumultuous instant when you snap forth from a deep sleep. There it was again. Louder than rodents, yet not hollow like a branch against a wall or the tap of a windowpane. No this sound was like claws, large claws on wood, making deep gouges as if something desperately wanted out. Bathed only in faint light from the outside street lamps, Remus saw little in the darkness, a silhouette of a lampshade, the rotund outline of a wardrobe, the organic shape of a coat hung over a chair. Nothing out of place, though the shadows were still elusive, deep and dark, places to hide, places to conceal.</p><p>Yet again the sound startled him, only closer, not coming from the shadows. Remus felt his heart quicken, his rib cage stiffen as he held his breath in like a protective parent cradling an infant. Yes, there it was, erratic, unnatural, and coming right from under his bed. His body froze for an instant, dread and panic overtaking him, before rational thought gripped his senses and he threw off the heavy covers, feet hitting the cold wood of the floor beneath with a shock. He pulled at the light cord, the bedside lamp flickering to life, before he dropped to his knees and looked beneath the bed. Though the darkness persisted, there was again nothing there save an odd box or two and a sock he must have dropped.</p><p>With muscles still lax from sleep, Remus pushed at the bedframe, palms flat against the side and thrust it towards the corner of the room. One more push and he had it, the floor illuminated, no secrets to hide. He stepped carefully to the ground normally not trod upon, pushing aside the boxes, as he shuffled on his knees searchingly. And there, small yet oddly fresh, were what looked like small claw marks upon the floor. Remus gasped. It couldn’t be. It didn’t seem real. Yet here was evidence, something had been scratching under his bed. But it was gone. Whatever had done this, he’d not seen scurry out as he’d pushed, not felt an animal flash past his bare feet or take to the dark corners of the room. Puzzled and anxious, Remus grabbed his comforter and pillow. He slept on the couch that night.</p><p> </p><p>* * *</p><p>“Dr. Lupin’s office,” Remus said, suppressing a yawn as he held the phone with his ear and scribbled a note with a pen that was just about to give up the ghost as it dried half way through a word. He hated going in on Saturdays, but he was overly compassionate when it came to his clients and often gave in when they worked all week and needed a weekend session. He sighed and heard a laugh on the other end of the line.</p><p>“Rough day?” Lily asked into his ear, a breath of fresh air in a rather suffocating headspace.</p><p>“You could say that, didn’t sleep much last night.” He threw the pen over his shoulder, a problem for Future Remus.</p><p>“I thought alcohol was supposed to help you sleep?” Lily said.</p><p>“Normally it does,” Remus murmured.</p><p>“You don’t have to come out with us again tonight if you're too tired,” Lily said, a hint of hope still in her voice.</p><p>“You know I want to,” Remus said, organizing some papers on his desk and standing to stretch. “I just may not be much fun.”</p><p>“Nonsense, you’re always fun,” Lily said. “I was thinking we could go to the same bar…”</p><p>“Really? Didn’t get enough dad jokes?” Remus said. “Or was it maybe the cute bartender telling the dad jokes…”</p><p>Lily scoffed. “No, for sure just the dad jokes.”</p><p>“Sure,” Remus laughed. “See you at seven.”</p><p>* * *</p><p>The bar was stiflingly warm, chatty and crowded, enough that the group had to wait fifteen minutes until enough seats vacated to allow them to sit together.</p><p>“And what’ll it be tonight?” the bartender from the previous night asked, appearing over the counter with a towel draped over one shoulder.</p><p>“One dad joke please,” Dorcas requested, sitting beside her partner as the bartender took their order. “And...I’m not sure what to drink tonight. What do you recommend…”</p><p>“It’s James,” the bartender said, “and my doctor actually told me to watch my drinking.”</p><p>“Really?” Dorcas said, still gullible though the others could see the joke she had only just requested, coming a mile away.</p><p>“Yep, but don’t worry, now I just drink in front of a mirror.”</p><p>James took a bow and they all groaned, but none louder than the man sitting to Remus’ right, a familiar looking brunette that Remus could almost but not quite place.</p><p>“James, no, for heaven’s sake,” he moaned dramatically, head hitting the counter with a not so small thud.</p><p>“Hey, they ordered it.” James shrugged. “And speaking of orders, why are you sitting at the bar instead of waiting tables Sirius?”</p><p>It then dawned on Remus that this man was the overly amorous bloke from the night before. He’d barely made out his features as he’d been far away, lost in the shadows, yet up close he seemed awfully good looking, and apparently not at all shy as he winked at Remus before standing. Remus bristled, he did not in the least bit understand what was so appealing about flirtatious men who would so easily jump from partner to partner. The man rubbed him in all the wrong ways, good looks notwithstanding.</p><p>The stool squealed at the man turned, feet hitting the ground with the sound of heavy boots as he grabbed a hair tie around his wrist and pulled his long dark locks up into a messy bun. Remus told himself it both looked too careless and that he was trying too hard. “Fine, just holler if you need saving from his incessant dad jokes,” Sirius--apparently-- said, walking away momentarily.</p><p>“Sorry about him, what can I get you?”</p><p>Two rather strong drinks later and Remus was feeling uninhibited enough to let spill the rather embarrassing reason he hadn’t slept well the previous night. In the light of day it had seemed quite silly, the scratches barely noticeable, and he had to laugh at himself for pushing his furniture frantically around the room by moonlight.</p><p>“But you thought it was...what? A ghost?” asked Marlene.</p><p>“I haven’t a clue. I was honestly hoping for mice,” Remus shrugged.</p><p>“And you didn’t hear it again?” Lily said.</p><p>Remus shook his head. “I slept downstairs, on the couch, like a coward.”</p><p>“What about your other senses, were they heightened in the dark?” Dorcas asked, her eyes wide and her tone encouraging, as the only non-skeptic of the group. Remus included. “Did you smell or hear or feel anything out of the ordinary?”</p><p>“Nothing.”</p><p>“Wow, this ghost is more boring than the last one,” Lily laughed.</p><p>“That wasn’t a ghost, I felt him, he was I...I don’t know…” Remus shook his head.</p><p>“A sex demon?” Lily helped.</p><p>“You rang?”</p><p>Remus turned to find that annoying flirt/waiter/bartender’s best friend by his side. The others laughed but Remus did not find him all that amusing.</p><p>“Go away Sirius,” James scoulded from down the bar, “Stop badgering the customers.”</p><p>“I was only kidding,” Sirius said, placing some empty drinks on the rather worn oak bartop, condensation dripping down to form rings against the wood. “Plus they were talking about demons or some such thing and you know I can’t resist listening in.”</p><p>“Don’t tell me you believe in this supernatural nonsense too?” Lily asked as the group turned on their stools toward Sirius.</p><p>The man shrugged, his loose button up shirt, top button annoyingly undone of course, pulling at his broad shoulders. “I believe in possibilities. That the unknown, the unexplained, is still out there. And sometimes it finds us,” he said, his eyes glistening toward Remus.</p><p>He frowned. “While the sentiment is appreciated, I’m not sure how much stake I should put in the beliefs of a random lackadaisical waiter.”</p><p>“Give him time, you’ll trust him even less,” James laughed, grabbing the empty glasses and putting them under the counter.</p><p>“Not helpful Jamie-boy,” Sirius said through clenched teeth, though his tone was still playful.</p><p>“Help is waiting tables, not dispensing magical advise,” James said in exasperation.</p><p>“It really was nothing, I don’t know why I even brought it up,” Remus said, even more sure now than ever that he’d imagined last night’s encounter. Especially if this man believed in such superstitious things.</p><p>“Don’t discount your instincts so quickly,” Sirius said. “You don’t seem the type to make things up.”</p><p>"You’ve known me for all of two minutes,” Remus replied.</p><p>“I can tell you’re the logical sort who can’t even believe himself and needs to open his mind,” Sirius replied.</p><p>“I’m very open minded,” Remus retorted.</p><p>“Maybe for some things, but to the unknown? I’m betting this isn’t the only weird thing that’s happened to you that you’ve dismissed out of hand.”</p><p>“That’s really none of your business.”</p><p>“Look, just relax. I swear you’re taking everything I say the wrong way,” Sirius sighed in exasperation, holding his hands up in faux surrender.</p><p>“Then learn to say them the right way,” Remus replied, turning back to his friends.</p><p>“What the heck is wrong with him?” He heard Sirius ask his friend over the bar.</p><p>“Nothing until you came along and ruffled him up. Just go wait some damn tables.”</p><p>“But he’s acting…”</p><p>“I’m acting what?” Remus said over his shoulder. “Annoyed? Uninterested? Sounds like you’re not open to the possibility that not all men find you charming.”</p><p>“Oof,” Lily said next to him.</p><p>“He’s got you there mate. Now scoot,” James said, pushing Sirius away from the bar with a long stirring spoon. Rempus pretended not to notice the confused and somewhat hurt glance Sirius cast his way.</p><p>“Does every man he meets just fall into his hands?” Lily asked James who sighed and looked to the ceiling.</p><p>“Do you really want the answer to that?”</p><p>“Not really,” Remus replied for them all.</p><p>Later as they paid off their tabs, Remus looked under his receipt to find a strange piece of paper beneath. It was a bit larger but similarly shaped as a bill though it had some sort of symbolic writing on it in thick black ink. The letters seemed to flow organically together, a pattern taking shape unlike anything he’d ever seen.</p><p>“Hey James,” Remus said as he slid his cash over the counter. “I think someone’s drawing got stuck to my receipt.</p><p>“Oh,” James picked up the paper before shooting a glance to Sirius who was staring at them from across the room and quickly ducked his head as if deep in his work, which no one could honestly believe. He placed it carefully back in Remus’ hand. “That’s Sirius’ doing. Look, I know you don’t really know what to believe, and I don’t blame you. But Sirius wanted you to take this, just in case.”</p><p>“What is it?” Remus turned the paper over. It was thicker than printer paper and smelled ancient, like incense and old books.</p><p>“It’s an Ofuda. A buddhist protective talisman.”</p><p>“And I do what with it?”</p><p>“Let it gather dust probably. But just in case, if something seems weird, he wanted me to tell you to press it to whatever surface is nearby, a door, or your floor, whatever seems...off. I know, it sounds odd, and that Sirius sometimes goes about things all wrong, but he means well, really. Just take it so he feels like he’s helping,” James encouraged.</p><p>“Sure,” Remus said with a sigh.</p><p>“Hope you have a better night tonight,” James said, though it was Sirius’ eyes he could feel on his back as Remus left the bar.</p><p> </p><p>* * *</p><p>In fact Remus slept through the night, no supernatural scratching or otherwise out of place sounds awakening him until his alarm blared at a very normal hour for a languid Sunday morning. He stretched, feeling his bad shoulder pop, then pulled himself out of bed in search of fresh coffee.</p><p>It took Remus a moment to register the incongruous feeling beneath his feet before he yelped and jumped back onto the safety of his comforters. Startled, he peered down and realized that now, beneath his bed, was a large puddle of water that encompassed the entire area. The wood appeared dark and sodden, almost as if the floorboards had been soaking for days not hours, as the legs of the bed were starting to push into the wood.</p><p>Not wishing the area to collapse from the weight, Remus quickly vaulted off and pushed his bed back toward the wall and away from the watery perimeter. Then he simply sat there, in the middle of his floor, feet still damp, and wondered what the heck was going on. First the scratching and now this?</p><p>Willing himself into action, Remus threw an armful of towels onto the small bedroom lake and went downstairs to make some much needed coffee and find where he’d put the damn phonebook.</p><p>When the phone rang later that afternoon, Remus jumped for it. He’d called every single plumber in the city, all in alphabetical order, and not a single one could make it over on a Sunday on such short notice. If one finally had an opening…</p><p>“Hello?”</p><p>“Remus?” came Lily’s voice over the phone, and pleased though he was, she wasn't exactly handy with a pipe wrench.</p><p>“Oh Lily, sorry now’s not a good time,” Remus said, shifting the weight of a sodden towel he’d been putting into the dryer.</p><p>“Guess lunch wasn’t either?”</p><p>“What time is it?” Remus said, glancing at his watch before cursing under his breath. He’d completely forgotten his lunch date with Lily. “Shit, Lily I’m so sorry. A pipe broke and I’ve been trying to get a plumber but no one’s available and I’ve been sopping up water all day.”</p><p>“Oh my gosh, okay give me twenty minutes and I’ll be there to help.”</p><p>“No really, I can manage,” Remus said, though he clearly couldn’t.</p><p>“Yeah, you don’t sound at all overwhelmed, perfectly in control,” Lily laughed. “Let me grab some help and we’ll be right over.”</p><p>Remus didn’t even register the ‘we’ in that sentence until Lily showed up at his door, not only with Marlene and Dorcas, but James and fucking Sirius to boot.</p><p>“Hi, uh…” Remus knew he must look an awful mess, hair in disarray, shirt clinging to his chest from carrying damp towels up and down the stairs, but the others didn’t remark on it, a point in their friendship jar. “This is a surprise.”</p><p>“Just thought you could use the extra help,” Lily said, pushing past Remus despite his shock. “You know, in case you need some muscle and...James do you know any plumber jokes?”</p><p>“As a matter of fact I...wait why aren’t I the muscle?” James asked.</p><p>Everyone ignored him as Remus stepped aside to let the group pass. “How did you find them?”</p><p>“We were out shopping and bumped into James and Sirius,” Marlene said, looking around the entryway.</p><p>“Yeah, believe it or not, they don’t live in the bar,” Lily laughed, giving him a much needed hug.</p><p>“Shocking,” Remus said, the first smile of the day pulling at the corner of his lips.</p><p>“Happy to help,” James said, awkwardly shaking Remus’ hand like they’d never met, though Sirius just nodded from a socially acceptable distance away.</p><p>“I’m grateful really. I turned off the water to the house but it just keeps pooling,” Remus said with a defeated sigh, “Let me show you the damage.”</p><p>After grabbing a dry batch of towels, Remus took them up a curved antique wooden staircase toward the master bedroom. Inside was utter chaos. He’d pushed both his bed, nightstand, and bureau as far from the puddle as possible, so his entire bedroom’s furniture looked to be hoarder’s dream, stacked and smashed onto one side of the room. Luckily for Remus and his sense of propriety, all their attention seemed riveted on the dark puddle scarring his wooden floor.</p><p>“That’s a lot of water,” James said, scratching his head.</p><p>“Yep,” Remus said, throwing the towels on top to soak up the liquid. “Weird thing is, I looked at the house’s blueprints, but I don’t see any water pipes under here.”</p><p>“Huh, okay that’s extra weird,” Lily said.</p><p>“And it’s only concentrated here, under your bed?” Sirius asked, finally speaking. Truth be told, Remus had almost forgotten he was there.</p><p>“Uh, yeah. No other damage I’ve found,” Remus replied. He watched as Sirius squatted near the puddle, not touching it but examining it intently.</p><p>“It hasn’t dripped through the ceiling beneath? Like, with gravity?”</p><p>Honestly Remus hadn’t even thought on that curiosity. He assumed there had to be some logic to it, why water would pool up instead of down. Magnets or something?</p><p>“Um…no”</p><p>“Can you show us what’s right below this?”</p><p>“Sure,” Remus said, watching Sirius, a whole different side of the man than the carefree flirt he’d seen at the bar.</p><p>They walked back downstairs, Sirius stopping to look at the random jars and bottles Remus had lining the winding staircase opposite the central banner. Merely ornate, some were made with colored glass, others antiques his grandparents had collected on trips or maybe just at flea markets. Remus mostly kept them there since his shelves were overly stuffed with books and he’d run out of room for keepsakes and knicknacks.</p><p>“Do you think they’re cursed?” Remus laughed shakily, though no one else did. Perhaps they simply didn’t know how to negate the strangeness of the situation, or maybe, like Remus, they felt something out of the ordinary at play here in this old house.</p><p>“How would I know?” Sirius asked, a small smile gracing his lips that subtly eased Remus’ tension.</p><p>“Right, of course,” Remus replied and they carried on down the remaining flight and towards the living room. Due to there being no water cascading from the ceiling, he hadn’t even taken the time to look up until now. And just as he’d imagined, there was nothing there. No bulging drywall ready to spew water forth onto his living room, or dark stain reflecting the shape above. Remus let out a breath he hadn’t even known he’d been holding.</p><p>“Huh,” Sirius said, interrupting his relief. He beckoned for Remus until they stood shoulder to shoulder, Remus feeling the heat of his body against his own damp skin. “Do you see it?” Sirius said after a moment of silence. Remus shook his head and Sirius moved closer, his chest pressed to Remus back and drew his arm in his line of sight. “There, what do you see?”</p><p>Remus squinted, but there, at the end of one of Sirius’s long graceful fingers, was in fact something, an irregularity in the wooden planks, one he’d never noticed before. And though he wished to dismiss it, perhaps as a strange play of light and angles, he could not deny that the vague outline of a hand was in fact pressed into his ceiling.</p><p>“Okay, that could be anything though,” Remus said after everyone crowded around. “Right?”</p><p>“Maybe it’s always been there?” Lily suggested.</p><p>“Or the water above is making that shape,” Marlene said.</p><p>“Um, or your house is haunted,” Dorcas offered.</p><p>“I mean,” Remus looked from her then back to Sirius who was still standing intimately close. He took a step away so he wasn’t breathing into the other man’s mouth when he spoke. “Okay, say it is a handprint, Mister Supernatural Expert, what does that mean?”</p><p>“I never said I was an expert,” Sirius replied, looking from the handprint back to Remus and biting his lip in a way Remus wanted to hate but really didn’t. “And like you said, it could be nothing. But don’t you agree that it’s a strange coincidence that you heard scratching under your bed one night, and the next there’s a pool of water and a handprint below it?”</p><p>“It’s...not not a coincidence?” Remus shrugged but he was becoming on edge. They all were. It suddenly felt ten degrees colder in the house and Remus shuddered. He almost jumped when Sirius put a hand on his shoulder and instinctively went to pushed it off, but something about the confort soothed him and he decided to allow it. But the moment he looked into Sirius’ silvery eyes he began to regret it.</p><p>“We’ll figure this out, okay?”</p><p>Remus swallowed and nodded.</p><p> </p><p>Deciding upon a practical approach, the group moved all Remus’ bedroom furniture to an adjourning study before changing out the towels again. Strangely, no matter how much they soaked up, the water seemed to return, even with the water shut off.</p><p>“The pool hasn’t gotten any bigger though?” James said, squinting at the confines of the pool. It was still around the length of the bed, a bit thinner though, and didn’t, in fact, seem to ever get more expansive.</p><p>“Not so far,” Remus replied thoughtfully.</p><p>The group sat in a lopsided semi-circle on the empty floor of his bedroom, gazing at the water as if expecting it to move.</p><p>“Have you tried putting anything in it?” Dorcas suggested.</p><p>“Other than my foot first thing in the morning?” Remus scoffed. But she was serious. “No.”</p><p>Sirius stood, dashed out of the room and grabbed a pen from the study. Standing on the edge, he knelt carefully before the stale pool, long hair falling to frame his furrowed brow. No one breathed. Slowly he lowered the pen until the tip touched the surface, sending small ripples throughout. He pressed it further, perhaps an inch, until it hit resistance. Still no one breathed. Then he pulled it out. Nothing happened. The pen was still whole. A sigh rippled through the room.</p><p>“Well I feel dumb,” Dorcas said.</p><p>“Nah, it was an interesting suggestion,” Marlene said, putting an arm around her partner.</p><p>“Not to pry,” Sirius said from Remus’ right, “but has anything unusual happened here?”</p><p>“In my bed you mean?” Remus felt ruffled again. And though his first instinct was to snap that it was none of Sirius’ damn business what happened in his bedroom, he held back. Sirius had been nothing but kind today after all. “No, nothing I can think of. My grandparents left me this house a couple years back. I’ve since replaced half of the roof, the water heater, parts of the kitchen, but nothing in the floor or ceiling below.”</p><p>“Did...did they pass away here?” Sirius asked.</p><p>“Ah no, car accident. Not in the bedroom here if that’s what you’re implying. I’m not sure why my grandparents would haunt me anyway,” he laughed, “they practically raised me and were nothing but kind.”</p><p>“Sorry,” Sirius said. And strangely Remus felt he meant it for prying.</p><p>“Any kinky sex gone wrong? A body buried in the floorboards, a tell tale heart you hear beating every night along with your guilty conscience?” Lily raised an eyebrow when no one was laughing. “What, as long as we’re prying…”</p><p>“I can assure you, nothing like that.”</p><p>“Good, cause you know you always have to tell me everything,” Lily said, rocking into knock against his shoulder. He appreciated the attempt to lighten the mood.</p><p>“I swear, I haven’t done any murdering or butchering, and there’s nothing new here other than a coat of paint. And there’s been no one in here except me in...well a while,” Remus confessed, not looking anywhere in the vicinity of Sirius.</p><p>“Let’s name it,” said Lily after they’d been sitting in a rather uncomfortable silence for far too long staring at the stagnant water upon his floor.</p><p>“Wait, you want to name my puddle?” Remus asked, though he was already smiling.</p><p>“Well yeah. That way we can talk about it like a person in public and not just ask how your puddle’s doing,” she explained.</p><p>“Oh I like that. And if it’s a ghost, it’s already got a name,” Dorcas suggested and Marlene put her face in her hands.</p><p>“How about Jezebel?” James suggested, clearly keen on the idea.</p><p>“It’s not a cow!” Sirius yelled.</p><p>“Do you think it’s a boy or a girl?” Lily asked.</p><p>“Would Remus bring a female into his bedroom?” Sirius asked. Lily scoffed.</p><p>“So Poolyanna is out then?” James asked. Everyone groaned.</p><p>“Look, I’ll go order us some pizza,” Remus said, “And whoever gets to the door to pay for it first, gets to names my puddle.”</p><p>Thirty minutes later and twenty-five dollars poorer, Dorcas was the proud christener of Sir Nicholas de Mimsy-Puddleton, first of his name. Not only was she light on her feet, but she’d shoved Sirius into a wall in her fight for naming rights. Sirius now held a slice of pepperoni pizza in one hand and a bag of frozen peas to his forehead and over one eye in the other. It was impressive multitasking, though Remus didn’t wish to admit it.</p><p>And around the mouthfuls of molten cheese and depressing lack of pepperoni, Remus had to admit there was a strange camaraderie to the group, as if they’d been friends for more than just the day and a strange couple evenings as they bonded over the puddle on his floor. Sorry, Sir Nicholas.</p><p>James was busy helping Lily create a “no crossing” sign out of the top of the pizza box to place at the perimeter, Marlene had found a rubber ducky that now floated in Sir Nicholas’ placid depths, Dorcas kept begging to put a circle of salt around the entire room and Sirius was strangely quiet but kept casting glances his way. Remus was sure he was up to no good and gave him a frown.</p><p>“So how did you and Sirius meet?” Lily asked James after they’d proudly erected their signage.</p><p>“Ah, it was so long ago,” James said, scrubbing at the back of his neck. “We were just dumb kids.”</p><p>“Smart kids,” Sirius corrected, “doing dumb shit.”</p><p>“I stand by what I said, in your case,” James laughed. “Anyway, I was playing in a field with some other children, I’d come up with a way to take their money if I could guess the card they were holding. So of course, I had a trick, I’d rigged the deck, but they didn’t know it and I’d taken about five kid’s pocket money before they started to catch on and one rather large boy was having none of it. So he comes up like he’s going to knock my lights out, but Sirius just appears, out of nowhere, grabs the boy and kisses him! He was so stunned that when Sirius let go his shoulders, he fell flat on his face! The other boys had to drag him away cause he couldn’t stop staring at Sirius, red in the face, like he couldn’t believe he’d just been kissed. And then Sirius comes sauntering up to me, all proud, and shows me he’s pickpocketed the boy’s remaining cash. We were fast friends from then.”</p><p>“The boy didn’t come back to beat you up?” Lily turned to Sirius.</p><p>“Oh he found me again, but wouldn’t you know, he just wanted another kiss,” he replied, puckering his lips comically. They all burst out laughing.</p><p>“Turns out Sirius’ parents aren’t quite the hand’s on sort, so my folks took him in, attempted to give him some manners, little good that did.”</p><p>“I’m untamable, what can I say?” Sirius said, smiling over at Remus, who was quite unsure what that actually meant.</p><p>“What about the rest of you, childhood friends as well?” James asked.</p><p>“Remus and I have been best friends since primary school and then we went to university to study psychology together. That’s where we met Marlene, she’s an addiction specialist...”</p><p>“...who then started dating her student,” Remus added with a cocky snort.</p><p>“Ex student, we were just friends until I graduated, remember?” Dorcas put in jokingly, though clearly she didn’t want their new friends to assume an inappropriate first impression.</p><p>“Ex student then. Marlene still teaches, Dorcas is working a clinic, Lily is a Marriage Family Therapist and I deal with sleep disorders,” Remus informed them.</p><p>“Sleep disorders? Really?” Sirius said, clearly more interested than Remus thought he would be.</p><p>“Yeah, you know, mostly stuff like conducting sleep studies and helping patients with anxiety, sleep paralysis, night terrors, hypnagogic hallucinations, which are when you…”</p><p>“...awaken to see things that aren’t there, I’m familiar,” Sirius finished.</p><p>“Oh, it’s just not a very common term,” he said, raising an eyebrow. “But yes, I find sleep disorders...fascinating.”</p><p>“Really? So you must know that sightings of bedroom demons, incubi and succubi, are now attributed to sleep paralysis and hypnagogic hallucinations being misunderstood in ancient times?”</p><p>“Yes of course,” Remus said, straightening up, watching the strange light brighten Sirius’ eyes. This was an uncannily odd bit of information for a layman to know, unless Sirius was also a student of psychology.</p><p>“Did you take some psychology classes?”</p><p>“Nah,” Sirius said dismissively, “Just a collector of random facts.”</p><p>Remus felt there was surely something more to it but let the matter slide as everyone was staring at them in a mix of fascination and worry.</p><p>Clearly Sirius didn’t wish to let the matter drop just yet. “Have you ever seen something, something at night that you’re not sure was real?” he asked in a low, soothing tone.</p><p>Remus frowned. Strangely, though the others had clearly heard his tale before of the man with silver eyes, he didn’t feel like sharing this fact with Sirius. “No. No I haven’t,” he said with some finality.</p><p>“Hmm,” Sirius said, shrugging and leaning back, clearly not convinced.</p><p>“Um,” James butted in, “Sorry to interrupt, but I’ve got to get to work.” Only then did the late hour become apparent, the golden light filtering in, dancing on the wooden floors as the sun sank lower over the horizon.</p><p>“Shoot, I have a clinic shift,” Dorcas said.</p><p>“And I need to drive her,” Marlene finished.</p><p>“Remus, you should come stay with me tonight,” Lily quickly offered as they got to their feet.</p><p>“Thanks,” Remus said, “But I’d really rather stay here, just in case a plumber calls. Or the wood rots through and I have to bail out the living room with a bucket,” he laughed without humor.</p><p>“Then I can stay here too,” Lily suggested.</p><p>“Look, I really do appreciate the help, but I’m sure it’ll be fine, I’d rather you get some rest since you have work tomorrow. I promise, if something happens, you’re the first I’ll call.” She didn’t seem convinced, but Lily relented after that promise.</p><p>“Alright, but I’m holding you to it.”</p><p>“I’ll write the bar’s number and put it on the fridge, in case you need our help,” James suggested. “I’m sure Sirius will be all too happy to kick everyone out so he doesn’t have to wait tables, OUCH!” He yelled as Sirius elbowed him in the ribs.</p><p>“Call us, okay?”</p><p>“Yeah, sure,” Remus agreed before they all hugged or shook hands and he closed the door behind them, leaving his house empty and cold in the wake of their warmth.</p><p> </p><p>* * *</p><p>“Tadaima…”</p><p>Remus awoke with that word beating in his head, heart practically hammering out of his chest in the same horrifying rhythim, his body rigid and immovable. Sleep paralysis, he knew it well, an affliction from his childhood that only rarely reared its ugly head in his adult years. He felt immovably heavy, bolted into place, one with the bed as if carved from the very same wood and nails. Move, he thought, though his limbs remained still and lifeless. Despite the darkness his senses were on high alert and he was only momentarily shocked at the unfamiliar surroundings until he realized he was actually in his guest bedroom. Slowly he set his breathing, calming himself, then blinking his eyes. Once, twice, and then fingers. Yes they twitched, then moved. An arm, then his legs. Remus let out a sigh and sat up in bed, hands clutching his head, hair damp with perspiration as he assumed control once again of his body. A nightmare he struggled to remember must have been the cause, completely valid with all the current stresses he was buried under, a mountain of anxiety threatening both his waking life and sleep. Perfectly understandable.</p><p>Since he was up, Remus thought he might as well go check on the state of his bedroom. It was only one door away, old hinges creaking with age more than disuse, and Remus slipped from the guest room into his own, realizing only now that they’d taken all the furniture out, how dark the room became once night had fallen. Shadows deepened, the woodgrain on the floor sucking in light while the beams reflected the eerie blue of the almost full moon. And there in the middle was the pool, as still and lifeless as ever. Once he realized it did not expand upon reaching its desired shape, Remus had stopped throwing towels upon it to sop up the water and it now lay placid, clear, not even a bubble marring the glassy surface. Remus squinted and took a step closer. It was hard to make out, but it appeared as if something was in fact, floating in the center. Remus almost laughed, remembering the damn rubber ducky, but then the shadow moved. Remus squinted harder. No, this wasn’t the rubber duck at all, it was larger, darker, unfurling itself like a ragged flower until it assumed the unmistakable shape of an arm.</p><p>Remus shuddered and blinked, but the shape remained. No, it wasn’t, it couldn’t be. And then it moved. It propelled itself, like a boat seaking the shore, toward the edge of the puddle, then with a snap like no human hand should make, it convulsed toward the floor, digging sharp dark fingers into the wood, and pulling itself forward. Remus yelped and ran, shutting the door behind him with a bang.</p><p>He raced to the guest bedroom, looking for something, anything to use as a weapon. An old baseball bat sat against a window, an old relic of his childhood he was now suddenly grateful his grandparents had kept. Reaching to grab it, Remus caught a glimpse of something outside. He gasped. There, on the steps to the porch, was a shape, humanoid but dark in the shadow of the moonlight, staring up at him with unmistakably hungry eyes. He held his breath watching it watch him. Its head tilted to the side, long neck outlined against the shadows, and Remus was suddenly sure he’d be no match for this particular creature. It moved again, this time taking a step closer, one long hand beginning to raise up toward him, slowly, tentatively. And then it waved. Remus frowned. What the heck? Then he heard it speak, muffled through the window and nearly bashed his own head in with the bat for being so foolish.</p><p>“Remus? Hey you okay?”</p><p>Remus slid open the window and balanced himself on the ledge with his palms. “What the hell Sirius, you nearly gave me a heart attack!”</p><p>“Er, sorry,” Sirius said sheepishly. “It’s just, I was worried and didn’t want to bother you, but then I heard you yell...is everything alright?”</p><p>Truthfully Remus had entirely forgotten about the thing in his bedroom.</p><p>“Uh, I’m not sure, hold on, I’ll be right down.”</p><p>Remus hurried down the stairs, bat in hand, and wretched open the door to find Sirius looking very human and decidedly less ghostly than he’d appeared moments before. “I thought I saw something in the water.”</p><p>“Something? Like what?” Sirius asked, determinately stepping inside. Remus could faintly smell a combination of hair products and alcohol on him from the bar as he brushed past, though he was decidedly not drunk in the slightest.</p><p>“Okay, so it’s probably nothing, I did just wake up from a bout of sleep paralysis which can often be accompanied by hypnagogic hallucinations…”</p><p>“Quit doctoring and just tell me what you saw.”</p><p>“Fine, a hand okay? A dark arm raised itself out of the water and slid toward the edge and then...I don’t know. Tried to pull itself out.”</p><p>“Ah fuck.”</p><p>“It was probably just…”</p><p>“The ofuda, where is it?” Sirius yelled, running around Remus’ kitchen until he’d found a knife, flipping it once in his hand to catch it in a decidedly impressive way.</p><p>“The...what?”</p><p>“Ofuda! The talisman I had James give you.”</p><p>“Right.” Remus looked around for his jacket which was hung over the back of a chair. He pulled out the slightly crumpled paper which Sirius grabbed with a tisk and straightened against the corner of the counter before handing it back to him, procuring a handful more from his pocket and giving some to Remus to place in his pockets.</p><p>“Alright, stay behind me, okay? And if something goes wrong, call for James,” Sirius instructed with deadly intent. Remus swallowed and nodded.</p><p>“Okay.” He stepped behind Sirius as the man made his way up the winding staircase, pausing once to grab one of Remus’ grandparents old bottles and nodding.</p><p>He turned on his heel to hand it to Remus. “Hold this until I ask for it.”</p><p>They continued up, Remus with a bat in one hand, bottle in the other, Sirius looking much more deadly while armed with a kitchen knife. Strangely he seemed at one with the shadows, all catlike grace and poise, not making a sound on the old creaky stairs, a stifling silence wrapped around them until Sirius reached the closed door.</p><p>“Remember, stay back, no matter what happens, I don’t want you getting hurt,” he said, waiting until Remus nodded before he took the handle and turned.</p><p>The room was eerily still, the same silence slicking it like a muffled coat of paint that protected it from the outside world. Even the air felt different, heavy, not with humidity but with intent, anticipation personified and taking shape and eager to emerge. Remus almost didn’t see the hand, so still, so silent did it lay where he’d last seen it at the edge of this pool, this gateway to whatever lay beneath.</p><p>He didn’t mean to, but he had to know, had to make sure he wasn’t in fact, crazy.</p><p>“You see it?” Remus whispered and he saw Sirius nod.</p><p>“I see it alright.”</p><p>Taking another step into the room, Sirius was perhaps two feet from the pool when Remus saw the hand move. It merely twitched, but Remus could tell it knew they were there.</p><p>“Hurry,” he whispered, though he didn’t know what Sirius was actually attempting, he knew he needed to do it fast.</p><p>Reaching down, Sirius placed a talisman on the floor, as close to the water as he dared. Like lightning, a second hand shot up, reaching into the air before landing with a sickening splat next to the other.</p><p>“Shit,” Sirius swore, reaching into his jacket pocket to procure another ofuda. Before he could place it on the floor though, Remus watched in horror as the arms, thin and sickly as if malnourished, began to press into the damp wood as if lifting itself from the depths below. A head appeared, misshapen with a bulging forehead and brows and small eyes like flint ignited in a cave. Stringy wet tufts of hair slicked to its dark scalp. Sirius quickly placed another talisman and the thing reared up, a wet shriek echoing from a gaping mouth filled with rotting gums, a chasm it could not fully close and never fill.</p><p>“It’s a gaki, a hungry ghost, don’t let it near you,” Sirius yelled over his shoulder, running around the pool to place another seal. But sickly as the ghost was, it was quickened with need. It pulled itself completely from the stale water, round bulging belly hanging off dry skin as it straightened on spindly legs and cried out, starting toward Remus.</p><p>Remus yelled in return, holding up his bat with shaking hands as the horror stalked towards him on shambling stick thin legs. Luckily Sirius was faster, appearing with a flash of steal and slicing at the ghoul as if dancing on shadows. The ghost howled and turned away from Remus, attempting to face his opponent as Sirius seemingly slashed at it from all sides but the creature blocked all attempts with strangely impervious skin.</p><p>“This isn’t working,” Remus yelled, sidestepping to get near the pool.</p><p>“I noticed,” Sirius retorted, jumping as far from Remus as possible within the confines of the small room. “I need you to put the ofuda around the pool, we need to seal the doorway before anything else gets through.”</p><p>“Right,” Remus replied, as if this was the obvious solution to this improbable situation. “Do I just set them down or...”</p><p>“It’s all about intent,” Sirius huffed, between slashes, still distracting the abomination. “Slap it on the ground like you’re shutting a door. Shit look out!”</p><p>Remus glanced back at the pool to find another hand had appeared and made its way toward the edge.”</p><p>“Damn it,” he replied, then darted quickly around the pool, concentrating as he filled in the gaps between Sirius’s talismans, slamming them into the wooden floor. He glared with hatred as a second hand appeared, incensed that these horrors had dared make his house their own. He yelled, planting the last ofuda with a snap of his wrist and watched as if by magic as the hole closed with a sickening squelch and sucked the hands down with it. Relief was only short lived, though, when he realized the first hungry ghost still remained, its monstrous maw gaping as it attempted to take bites from Sirius who Remus could see was beginning to tire.</p><p>“What should I do?” Remus yelled and he saw Sirius glance his way. The hungry ghost took its advantage, pressing its ungainly weight onto Sirius and toppling him to the floor. They grappled, Sirius dropping his knife to use both hands to hold the ghoul’s jaws at bay.</p><p>“Quick Remus, I’ll hold him still, I need you to slap one of those onto his forehead,” Sirius ordered.</p><p>“What?”</p><p>“Just do as I say. Then put one on that bottle like you’re sealing him inside.</p><p>Remus didn’t have time to argue. He sprinted across the floor to Sirius, getting a much more intimate look at this horrifying creature than he wished, gazing into the darkened toothless maw and shrunken features as Sirius attempted to hold him still.</p><p>“Remus, now!” Sirius ordered, holding the thing by the throat. Remus sprung into action, quickly slapping the ofuda to the creature’s bulging forehead and then taking the last piece of paper and wrapping it around the bottle.</p><p>“Open it!”</p><p>Remus did as he said and suddenly the thing shrieked, attempting to claw at Sirius but failing as its features began to pull toward the bottle, as if gravity itself had changed and the entire world revolved inside this opaque jar. Like sand slipping through an hourglass it began to fall sideways into the opening, screeching and howling, until it was but a whisper and Sirius held nothing between his clenched hands.</p><p>“Seal it,” he instructed, and Remus put the stopper in and pushed it down tight. Then he collapsed on the floor next to Sirius, chest heaving, clutching the bottle tight in his hand.</p><p>“Is it gone?”</p><p>Sirius nodded from the floor, his hair wildly splayed, clothes soaked from the wet creature, though otherwise seemingly unharmed.</p><p>“Are you alright?” Remus asked after a moment.</p><p>Sirius raised his limbs for inspection then lowered them again, clearly exhausted though his breathing was beginning to return to normal. “Looks like it, you?”</p><p>“Physically, yes, mentally?” Remus shook his head. “Mentally...what the actual fuck.”</p><p>“Yeah…”</p><p>They sat in silence for a minute, the only sound was the wind rustling the wild oaks outside the window and the lonely hoot of a horned owl looking for a mate.</p><p>“So, who are you?” Remus finally asked.</p><p>Sirius sat up, a sheepish look on his face. “I don’t think you’d believe me if I told you.”</p><p>“After tonight, I’m a lot more, open minded. Just like you wanted me to be.”</p><p>“Fair enough,” Sirius replied. “But would you mind if we discussed it once I’m not covered in ghostly water and sludge?” he asked, pulling at his sodden shirt.</p><p>Remus grimaced, it was a lot more disgusting than at first glance.</p><p>“Yeah, alright, follow me,” he said, pushing himself up with his free hand and then giving it to Sirius who accepted it gladly.</p><p>In silence they made their way to the bathroom and Remus turned on the shower, letting the water warm beneath his fingers until it had reached an acceptable temperature. He tried not to notice as Sirius shucked of his shirt, shoulder blades playing over defined muscles as the man stood facing away from him. Remus shook himself from the ridiculous thoughts racing through his brain and only then realized he didn’t have an extra towel for Sirius, seeing as he’d been using all his extras to soak up the stupid puddle.</p><p>“Sorry, I’ll be right back with a towel,” Remus slightly yelped, racing from the steaming room before Sirius could take off his pants or something equally dangerous to Remus’ sanity.</p><p>He made his way to the laundry room, telling himself it was just adrenaline racing through his veins, combined with a very long celebate streak, especially since he found Sirius to be a complete asshole and not his type in the slightest. Of course looks-wise he was perfection incarnate, but that cocky attitude left much to be desired in a partner. Remus forgot what he’d been doing. A towel, right.</p><p>The current load of laundry was almost clean and dry, so he set the dryer to high for five more minutes before pulling a towel out and heading back upstairs, clutching the warmth to his chest as a lifeline to some semblance of sanity. He knocked twice on the half open door before sliding in, the steam slightly obscuring his vision until it parted like a cartoonish heavenly cloud and revealed Sirius, naked save for a towel wrapped devastatingly low on his narrow hips, grinning cheekily at him.</p><p>“I used your towel, hope you don’t mind.”</p><p>“Uh.”</p><p>“Eloquent,” Sirius laughed, looked thoughtful and then shook his head at Remus. “And here I thought you didn’t find me attractive.”</p><p>Remus recovered his words with a bit of an indignant flare. “You have a shite memory. I said you weren’t charming because you were acting like a cocky bastard.”</p><p>“Why can’t I be both?”</p><p>“You are both.”</p><p>“Ah so you do find me attractive.” Sirius took a maddening step closer and Remus felt his heart jump, among other things.</p><p>“You’re a complete asshole,” Remus practically growled.</p><p>“An asshole who just saved you from a fucking ghost.”</p><p>“If you’re looking for a ‘thank you…’” Remus started.</p><p>“I’m not looking for anything you’re unwilling to give.” He took another step closer and Remus could feel the steam rising from Sirius’ body. His shoulders were broad, his form fit, smooth and graceful, and his hair hung in wet strands that dripped down his shoulders. Remus wanted to grab it and never let go.</p><p>“I don’t even know your last name,” Remus said, searching for any excuse.</p><p>“It’s Black.”</p><p>“How fitting,” Remus countered.</p><p>“Look, you’re just as infuriating to me, if that makes you feel any better. Usually I don’t have to work as fucking hard for a guy to give me the time of day.”</p><p>“I don’t just want the time of day,” Remus replied, stepping back and realizing the door had somehow closed behind him. Sirius placed a forearm against it, trapping Remus on one side, though allowing him exit on the other. If he wished it. Remus didn’t move.</p><p>“Well what do you want?” Sirius asked, eyes flashing silver, his words silken like the purr of a cat, the whisper of silk on naked skin. It sent a shiver over Remus and the hairs on his forearms stood on edge.</p><p>“Something I’ve been searching for for five years,” he said, challenging Sirius, playing a hunch, a gamble if only Sirius would take the bait.</p><p>“Oh? So you realize who I am now?”</p><p>“Don’t pretend like you recognized me right away,” Remus scoffed.</p><p>“What can I say, I’ve fucked a lot of men since you.”</p><p>Remus bristled. “I’m not just one of your conquests.”</p><p>“You're right,” Sirius said, brushing a thumb along Remus’ jawline. “I never come back for seconds. But you...something about you…”</p><p>Remus straightened his shoulders and glared at Sirius, taking in those otherworldly silver eyes, those eyes he’d been seeking for five years while Sirius had moved on, found comfort in others’ arms, completely forgotten him. He never wanted that to be the case again.</p><p>“I’m not letting you fuck me and walk away. Not like last time,” Remus spat, a challenge, before pressing his lips to Sirius’, all heat and anger in one seering kiss.</p><p>“No?” Sirius said against his cheek, still smug, lips red and ready for another kiss.</p><p>Remus ignored them. “No.” He bent his head, teeth raking Sirius’ neck, below his jaw and took a soft bite, leaving a mark Sirius would find in the morning. “This time I’m fucking you and you’re never going to forget me.”</p><p>Sirius gasped as Remus kissed him again, claiming him, one hand tangled in this long hair, pulling Sirius deep into his mouth. The heat of Sirius’ cock pressed into his hip, hot and hard even through the towel, and Remus smiled to know he could have such an immediate effect on this man. No, this incubus.</p><p>“Say you want me,” Remus encouraged Sirius, reigning in his intensity, hands never going low, merely grasping the back of his head, running over his collar bones, tangling in his long hair. Sirius shook his head in his hands which only spurned Remus on more. He turned suddenly, flipping their positions, hearing a gasp as Sirius hit the door and the air was stolen from his lungs. Remus didn’t let up.</p><p>Tilting Sirius’ head to the side, licking his clavicle, his defined collar bones, stepping his hips back when Sirius sought to rut against them. No way in hell was he going to be just another quick fling, no one night stand for Sirius to fuck and forget. He needed Sirius to feel the same want he’d endured for five whole years, to know the emptiness of waking up alone in bed, having been completely whole only hours before. No matter his needs, he wanted to be Sirius’ drug of choice, his addiction, his obsession.</p><p>“Whatever tricks you have, they don’t work on me anymore,” Remus whispered in Sirius’ ear, feeling the man shudder and know that he was correct. For some strange reason, whatever magic he used to lure men to him, had used on him five years earlier, Remus was now impervious. Now he wanted him but for other reasons, with unimagined intent, full of actual desire.</p><p>“I don’t understand, you’re fucking infuriating,” Sirius moaned, pulling at Remus until he kissed him again. Remus laughed into the kiss. This was more than he’d ever hoped, the strange fervent yearning he’d always had to find the creature who gave him the most indescribable night, seemed a bland dream compared to this.</p><p>“You can go if you’d rather find another,” Remus suggested, attempting ambivalence in his tone. It seemed to work. Sirius grabbed at his collar and pulled him close.</p><p>“I’m not going anywhere,” Sirius said, attempting to kiss him but Remus held back with a cold smile.</p><p>“Then say you want me, just me.”</p><p>“You’re such an asshole.” But Sirius grinned. “Fine, I want you. I’ve wanted you since I saw you sitting at the bar in your dumb sweater like a stuffy sod. I’ve wanted you since I realized none of my magic worked on you and I couldn’t have you with just a smile. I wanted you since I realized it was you all those years ago and you’ve been looking for me for hell knows what reason.”</p><p>His impervious exterior cracked and Remus’ brow softened. “Really?”</p><p>“Yes, really.” Sirius sighed. “Now shut the fuck up and have your way with me.”</p><p>Remus pulled Sirius in, taking his mouth so hard he heard Sirius’ head hit the door once again. But he didn’t seem to care, one hand in Remus’ messy blond hair, the other on his hip and pulling him closer and closer. Finally able to give in, to take what he wanted, Remus let his hand glide over Sirius’ damp skin, reveling in the hard muscles of his shoulders, the strength of his forearms, the hard press of his chest against his own. Sirius arched into his touch, seemingly starved, and Remus wondered briefly how long Sirius had gone without being with someone. Wondered if he’d had an effect on the other man, enough that Sirius hadn’t taken another lover since he’d spotted Remus at the bar. He shook his head, no time to think on that when there was so much to concentrate on in the present, so much he wanted to make up for and insure Sirius remembered.</p><p>With one hand, Remus began to trace the hem of the towel around Sirius’ hips, slowly, tantalizing, until his finger dipped lower under the cloth and Sirius let out an almost inaudible whine. When he knew he had Sirius’ full attention, Remus dropped to his knees, nose mere inches from the terrycloth, hot breath ghosting over the tented length before him. Remus sighed, remembering how good it had felt stretching him open, but this, his favorite thing, he’d never gotten to do before Sirius had fled in the night. Slowly he parted the towel, running his palms up Sirius’ thighs, watching the man’s perfect cock revealed before him. Long, ruddy and thick, it gave a jump of anticipation and Remus watched a drop of come appear at the tip and drip down as if the man could no longer contain his yearning. Remus licked his lips.</p><p>It only took a moment before he was unable to reign in his curiosity, his thirst to taste the come of an incubus. He pressed Sirius’s ass firmly against the door before licking once up from root to glistening tip, the liquid melting like nectar on his tongue.</p><p>“You taste so good,” Remus praised him before going down again, this time taking the reddened head between his swollen lips and sucking Sirius as hard as he possibly could. Sirius let out a cry and grasped Remus’ shoulders, bucking his hips as Remus opened his throat to take in more of that thick length. “Yes!” Sirius cried, over and over, lifting one leg to curve around Remus’ shoulder, going deeper, fucking his mouth with so much need that Remus wondered if anyone had ever done this for the other, to think of his needs and wants over their own.</p><p>He sucked and swallowed, wishing Sirius to feel how much he was wanted from the movements of his mouth alone. His come tasted so enticing on his tongue, an aphrodisiac in each sweet drop, sending his own cock hardening further, arching against his pants, filling him while also making him feel so entirely incomplete. But as much as he needed his own fulfilment, Remus reminded himself this was his moment, perhaps his only chance to seduce Sirius fully so he’d never feel so incomplete again.</p><p>With one movement he pulled back, already missing the fullness of Sirius’ cock down his throat, but he quickly licked up his length and pressed his tongue into the slit, glancing up to watch Sirius, to witness the genuine reaction he was actualizing upon those beautiful features.</p><p>Sirius looked to be in pure ecstasy, color high on his cheeks, chest heaving, one lip caught between his teeth, and those otherworldly silver eyes, wide and gazing down at him, taking it all in. Remus swallowed, slightly stunned, before resuming his ministrations. With renewed fervor he took Sirius back into his mouth, tongue lovingly caressing the hard curves and full head, before swallowing him as far down as he possibly could without choking. Then he looked up at Sirius, nodding around his mouthful, and watched Sirius’ comprehension as the man began to slowly, then more rapidly fuck his mouth. Tears began to pool at the corners of Remus’ eyes, but they were not of pain, and his cock was as hard as ever as Sirius had his way with him. When Sirius came, his entire body shook, his thigh wrapped around Remus’ shoulder, squeezing him close, his heavy cock pulsing in his mouth, pulling out just enough for Remus to swallow the thick sweet mouthful before sucking him once more, taking every last drop of need from him.</p><p>Panting heavily, Sirius looked down at him, lowering his leg and allowing Remus to stand before him. “Kiss me,” he said breathily, and Remus dove in greedily, giving Sirius a taste of himself on his tongue, feeling the stuttering breaths from his nostrils, reaching down to find Sirius, still completely hard, in his hand.</p><p>“Is this part of the package?” Remus asked cheekily. “Incubi are always hard?”</p><p>“I’d say this is a rare occasion actually,” Sirius replied, and frankly Remus didn’t care whether it was true or not, but the fact that Sirius wished him to think it was special made his chest ache.</p><p>“Let’s see if I can’t do something about that then,” Remus said, pulling the towel completely from Sirius’ perfect body and ran his hands over every plane, every muscle that he’d been dreaming of touching for five years. By now Sirius seemed just the least bit less needy, enough so that he was attempting to remove Remus’ own clothes, shucking off his shirt and making quick work of his fly so his pants pooled on the floor. Remus stepped out of them and before Sirius had a chance to touch him, led the incubi into the roomy walk-in shower. He turned on the hot water, letting it run over them and steam the entire room, before taking a seat on the spacious ledge opposite the faucet, legs slightly splayed in invitation. Sirius smiled and bit his lip.</p><p>Remus grabbed his forearm, gently coaxing Sirius until he sat on his lap, Remus’ hardened length pressed to his own. And fuck it felt so good. Grip slickened by water and steam, Remus took their lengths between his fingers, slowly pulling them from root to tip, watching as Sirius arched his back, pressing into him as close as humanly possible.</p><p>“You still need me?” Remus asked, watching Sirius nod and rock his hips, seaking friction. “Do you want me to make you come again?”</p><p>“Yes, Remus yes,” Sirius encouraged, rocking harder, faster now. But Remus wanted more. With one finger he pressed to Sirius’ entrance, looking into the other’s silver eyes for consent. But Sirius swatted his hand away.</p><p>“No need,” Sirius said after a moment between gasps. “Just put it in,” he encouraged, reaching down to grab Remus’ thick cock, pumping it in his fist, making Remus gasp, before elevating himself slightly. Remus felt his cockhead brush Sirius’ entrance and shuddered.</p><p>“I don’t want it to hurt,” he said, stilling Sirius before he could continue.</p><p>“Believe me, it won’t,” Sirius said with a wink before he slid down, sitting completely on his thick cock.</p><p>“Fuck!” Remus exclaimed, feeling tight heat as well as some sort of wetness surround him, berating himself for thinking a sex demon wouldn’t come equipped with some sort of self-lubrication.</p><p>Sirius’ thighs shook as they gripped his own, perhaps adjusting to the welcomed intrusion, perhaps basking in the moment before he lifted himself, almost completely off Remus’ throbbing cock and pressing down again. And Remus let him, over and over, fingers playing up and down Sirius’ sides lending him balance and added strength to lift himself each time before the incubus fucked himself on his cock. It felt indescribable, some addled combination of five years of lust, overwhelming need, and realizing that any previous sexual encounters were not nearly as good as this moment he was now given. He could feel Sirius getting close, looked down at his cock bobbing against their stomachs, see the come spilling forth, watch it pulse and thicken as Sirius arched against him, filling and then leaving himself achingly empty over and over.</p><p>But now it was Remus’ turn.</p><p>With one movement he lifted Sirius, placed his hands against the heated walls, spread his legs wide on the steadying bath mat, and thrust his cock in hard. Sirius cried out his name and Remus smiled into his hair, reaching around to stroke Sirius’, marveling at the perfect cock between his fingers, wondering how many men had been able to do this, been given this gift of intimacy with Sirius, and hoping he was one of only a few. He stroked harder, his grip tightening, thrusting until he found the spot in Sirius that made him scream and buckle his knees. But Remus held him tight, seaking that treasured closeness over and over until Sirius was shaking in his arms.</p><p>Remus had never felt like this, so whole and complete, so strung out on his own euphoric high that he wasn’t entirely sure where his body ended and Sirius’ began. Something deep and primal made him wish to worship Sirius with his every movement, hands caressing, lips sucking, cock pressing deep and urgent in a rhythm that was quickly about to be his undoing. But he wanted it to last, for this to not be the end, for every moment to last a lifetime so Sirius understood just what this search had done to him.</p><p>“Sirius,” he whispered reverently against the back of his neck, kissing softly as his hips pounded hard, and he hoped the other man didn’t hear his voice shake. He felt a hand in his hair, turning his face until their lips met and they were kissing awkwardly over Sirius’ shoulder. Then Sirius was coming, hips jerking erratically, come mingling with water as he cried out and Remus squeezed his cock, over and over. Remus swore into Sirius’ shoulder blade, feeling his self control waning, letting himself fall over the edge Sirius had pulled him to, until he too came with a gasp, cock pulsing deep within Sirius as he pressed him once, hard into the wall.</p><p>Through erratic breaths, Remus kissed Sirius’ neck and back, holding him tight before easing carefully out. Sirius turned before sliding bonelessly down the wall to lay his back against the heated tile, looking up at Remus curiously, cocking an eyebrow. Remus chuckled before joining him, arms at their sides, the back of their fingers touching in an intimacy so different than what they’d just experienced.</p><p>“So you’re an incubus,” Remus said after a minute as the water splashed down on their legs.</p><p>“Mm,” Sirius replied, playing with a shampoo bottle as if not sure what to do with himself.</p><p>“And James...he’s...something too?”</p><p>“Yeah, well a fox god. They’re tricksters, pretty powerful actually, much more so than me since all I can do is seduce people.”</p><p>“Oh. So could he have played a trick on us then? Maybe that’s why your powers don’t work on me?”</p><p>“Huh,” Sirius thought about it momentarily. “Yeah, it’s possible, but he would have had to know you were looking for me.”</p><p>“Well that first night in the bar, Lily and Mar were kind of making fun of me for seeing psychics to search for a hot guy I’d once slept with, with silver eyes…”</p><p>Sirius burst out laughing.</p><p>“And then James said he could read palms and took my hand and told me I’d find who I was looking for very soon.”</p><p>With a snort, Sirius tilted his head toward the ceiling. “Yep, that’s when he did it. That’s what I get for having a fucking trickster god as a best friend.”</p><p>“Don’t be too pissed at him, I think he was trying to do you a favor,” Remus shrugged.</p><p>“Yeah I guess, still, you help a guy out working at his parent’s bar for a week, and he pulls a fast one. I didn’t even see it coming.”</p><p>“Oh,” Remus said after a moment. “A week huh? So...you’ll be leaving soon?”</p><p>Sirius still wasn’t looking at him but he felt as Sirius’ hand linked with his own, grasping his fingers tight.</p><p>“You know, I think I can be persuaded to stick around.”</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Ofuda: a talisman made out of various materials such as paper,  often used for protection against misfortune.  Can be placed on one’s person or within a home</p><p>Gaki: A Hungry ghost.  In Japanese buddhism, the spirits of jealous or greedy people who, as punishment for their mortal vices, have been cursed with an insatiable hunger for a particular substance or object</p><p>Japanese, Chinese, Korean, Celtic and Native American cultures have trickster fox gods/spirits in their mythologies, I left James’ appearance purposefully vague so you can decide for yourself </p><p>Tadaima - Japanese for “I’m home”</p></blockquote></div></div>
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